His ferocious plundering of a short Rea Bank side boundary left Leicestershire needing something equally explosive. They never came close and still needed 86 from 5.1 overs when the light went, so the Bears coasted to a second successive Clydesdale 40 win. Woakes’ blitz even overshadowed some Carter carnage, which takes a bit of doing. The opener took 18 off a Nathan Buck over and thumped Andrew McDonald’s first, second and sixth balls to the rope before successive fours off Matthew Hoggard took him to 50 from 26 balls. Carter’s 68 included 60 in boundaries.

Bell batted fluently early on, his first 50 spanning 33 balls, but slowed as wickets tumbled at the other end and, like Troughton, lost his wicket to a needless reverse-lap.

Leicestershire reeled in the scoring rate until Woakes and Tim Ambrose thrashed 87 from the last 35 balls of the innings. Woakes hoisted his second ball into the building site and added three more sixes, including one into Edgbaston Road off McDonald, in a thrilling cameo.

Just four days after his championship century against Hampshire, Woakes simply couldn’t be hitting the ball any sweeter right now. Requiring five off the last ball to reach one of the fastest half-centuries on record, he fell inches short as the ball landed just inside the point fence.

The Foxes’ reply only ever flickered into life. Will Jefferson lifted Carter for two sixes, then sliced to extra-cover. Paul Nixon flared briefly, launching into Stef Piolet, but holed out to Imran Tahir and, in fading light, Leicestershire lagged further and further behind the required rate. They needed 121 from the last ten overs

Twenty-year-old James Taylor underlined his talent with an unbeaten 92 (77 balls) but support was thin and the Bears were coasting home when a halt was finally called in near-darkness.

Warwickshire will travel in good heart to Canterbury for their championship match against Kent, starting tomorrow. Leicestershire, meanwhile, could only pine for the likes of Roger Tolchard whose 65 guided them so skillfully to John Player League victory at Edgbaston in 1976.